History Repeats Itself
by Heart of Bubbles
Summary: They say not to cry over spilled milk, but what about spilled coffee? - Rated M for content and language which will become apparent in later chapters. - This is Ereri, be prepared for yaoi. - Cover image by Hikari-15-L on DA. - Please review with criticism and ideas for future chapters!
1. Encounter

_Classically, the French and the Germans aren't always necessarily the best of friends. In the World Wars, they were on different ends of the battle. They feuded and lives were lost. This was partially due to their conflicts in temperament. The Germans: fiery and hot, always acting on am impulse and chasing a dream. The French: collected and cool, always striving for excellence in all prospects. History does have a way of repeating itself. However, not every stories of these two clans ends the same. In many ways, love and hate are the same. Both are strong emotions, felt from the heart generally on impulse with no real reason initially. But if the emotion is to last, the object of it will give reasons for the reaction. So, while the strife between Germany and France was bitter and fraught with hate, two individuals will find their story to be very different – yet much the same._

* * *

It's a pretty day. Autumn is my favorite season, and today is one of those days that validates my thoughts about autumn. However, there was a day much like this one before, yet it was not nearly as beautiful as this day. It was the beginning of a story, though. A story that begins with one event out of the normal that went on to change the course of my life.

* * *

Rivaille was wearing a white shirt. He walked through the crowded streets with an ease so complete he almost looked…bored? Of course, I didn't notice it, because if I had, we would have never met. I'm not sure if you could even call it meeting – we just sort of ran into each other. Literally. Except that I ran into him. And spilled my coffee all over his white shirt. Any normal person in that situation would just apologize and go on with their day. And the person on the receiving end would give a scowl and walk to wherever they were going.

I suppose he showed his un-normalness first. Instead of just accepting my apology and moving on with life, he stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going, brat?" he exclaimed, as if it would scare me or something.

"None of your business."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. It's none of your goddamned business," I began to raise my voice.

"Now it is. You're coming back to my apartment so I can change out of this filthy shirt and then you're going to wash it."

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because you soiled it!"

I showed my abnormality then. Rather than protesting and leaving him to deal with his own problem, my conscience got in the way. I did feel bad for soiling his white shirt. If it didn't get treated soon, it would stain and that couldn't be good. Besides, this guys wasn't bad looking. Sure, he had this continual bored expression on his face at all times, but that kinda looked…sexy?

So as we walked back toward the man's apartment, I tried to make a little small talk.

"What's your name then? You wouldn't have me over if I didn't at least know that, would you?"

"My name is Rivaille," he grumbled so softly that I could hardly hear what he said. "What's your name, brat?"

"Eren Yeager."

"How is it spelled?"

"E-R-E-N."

"Tch," was all he responded with. Seemed like he disapproved. Anyway, it wasn't my problem what he thought of my name. I had my own life to figure and that had absolutely nothing to do with this prick.

* * *

After maybe ten minutes of walking in relative silence, we reached his apartment complex. Rivaille abruptly turned on his heel and started up the steps. He swung open the door with a force so unnecessary I realized that he was very upset about his shirt. Didn't seem like such a big deal to me. Then again, this guy was a stranger. Strangers always seemed exceptionally odd to outsiders.

* * *

When we got to his place – number 304 – he made me take off my shoes before entering and put them on a shoe rack neatly next to each other. After complying with this guy's rules, I straightened and noticed how painfully neat his apartment was. The chestnut hardwood was glistening, the countertops of his breakfast bar were gleaming black, and the white walls were pristine and had not a blemish. I looked around in awe while he walked to the corner of the open-concept room where his 'bedroom' was. As he removed his shirt, I noticed how muscular his back was. Even though I knew it wasn't good to be checking this guy out, he was just so…hot… He must have noticed me staring because he flashed me an expression back that I couldn't quite read. Confused and self-conscious, all I could do when he announced that he would be taking a shower was nod.

I took that opportunity to snoop about his house a little. It wasn't the right thing to do, but I figured that I had a free pass, considering how odd the situation already was. I noticed there was one picture frame with its face down on his dresser, so I picked it up. What I saw surprised me.

Rivaille and another man were pictured. It was one of those lovey-dovey shots where a couple kissed and someone took a picture of it to show how in love they were. The man was tall and blonde, which look funny because Rivaille was short and has dark features, except for his pale skin. I noticed the glass of the frame was cracked, though, as if Rivaille had thrown the picture down so its face was to the dresser.

I put the picture back the way I found it, though. After mulling it over and leaning on the front door, I hear the bathroom door creak as he emerged in a fresh pair of black jeans and a white tank-top. This outfit was less put-together than the other. I worried if I had interrupted his day too much. Even so, I was still rash and thoughtless in my words to him.

"So… Bad breakup?"

"I don't recall giving you permission to look around." Strangely, he seemed to know exactly what I was making reference to.

"It was lying in plain sight."

"Whatever. It's none of your business. Just take this filthy shirt and wash it."

"How can I stay in contact with you to give it back?"

Rivaille just rolled his eyes at me as if I had asked a question with a painfully obvious answer, yet the answer was not apparent. At least not to me.

In a swift motion, he grabbed my hand and wrote his phone number and name on it. His lettering was harsh and dug deep into my hand, yet it was neat. Perfect, in fact. After he had written it, he shoved his soiled shirt into my chest and sent me on my way.

* * *

A few days passed. I had washed Rivaille's shirt on the first day as I got back to my own apartment, but my studies at university had gotten in the way of my thoughts about the eccentric stranger that had brought me into his home because I had merely spilled my coffee on his shirt. That night after class, I checked my phone.

_-1 message received-_

It was from Rivaille:

_Come over now._


	2. Therapy

A/N: Sorry for the super-duper long wait! I had extreme writer's block with the early scenes. Hope it's not too bad...

* * *

It seemed odd for him to beckon me to his apartment, but I supposed his OCD or whatever drove that clean freak was getting to be too much for him – he needed that shirt back. So I shoved the shirt in my duffel bag and headed over to Rivaille's apartment, which was actually only a block or two from mine, strangely enough. When I got there, I rang the buzzer for his apartment, announced who I was, and was admitted into the complex. The numbering system was simple enough, so I found his place easily. When I knocked, he answered the door immediately, expectant. This didn't seem strange to me at the time.

"Hello, Eren," he started, seeming much more relaxed than before.

"Good evening, Rivaille."

"Please, would you have a drink? I feel guilty for having you do those things for me. I, uh, want to make it up to you."

"Okay. Sure. I'll have a drink."

It was a Friday night, so what the hell? Why not take a free drink? Besides, he was beginning to act civil, which I appreciated at least. I figured to return the favor by taking him up on his offer. He went into the kitchen and I sat at the bar. Deciding to make a little small talk while he got the drinks together, I started a new conversation.

"So what do you do for work?"

"I'm a high school French teacher. What do you do?"

"I'm studying astronomy."

"Interesting, interesting… Is champagne good for you?"

I was a little taken aback. I'd never had it, to be honest. All the alcohol I'd had in the past was cheap beer and the occasional vodka courtesy of someone else at a party.

"Um…sure. Thanks." I took the fluke of liquid stars and noted how pretty it was. The little bubbles rose to the top and fizzed poetically. I took a small sip, expecting not to like it. But, surprisingly, it takes just how it looked – like stars. The rest of it was gone in one gulp and it went down smoothly. "I'll have another."

* * *

After more than each of our fair shares of champagne, we finished the bottle and were both a little buzzed. Buzzed enough to be telling each other things that sober people would have kept to themselves.

"Yer hooot!" I proclaimed loudly, stroking his face.

"Yeah?"

"Yeeeeeaaaaah!"

"You too."

Rivaille, as I would later find out, was an impulsive drunk. It wasn't really that he did things he wouldn't have done, he just did them a lot sooner than he would have. Perhaps that was a good thing, though. It made things less…awkward…

Anyway, our lips were locked soon after that short confession and I was fumbling with his belt while he effortlessly removed my clothing. When I was exposed to the cold air, he put his hands on mine and they were cold too. Immediately my skin was covered in goosebumps as we stumbled toward the bed. Our motions were sloppy and our arms often bumped into each other with conflicting yet related agendas.

* * *

The night was satisfying indeed. I felt on top of the world the whole time. It wasn't my first time, because those are never as good as people say they are. There's always something disappointing. But Rivaille was not disappointing. How could he be? I went to his house expecting to return a shirt and got sex out of it. If that isn't a good time I don't know what is, honestly.

* * *

When I woke up, Rivaille was still asleep. I guess I gave him a good night too, because he looked dead tired. I smiled and brushed the hair out of his closed eyes and gathered my clothes before heading to the shower. He must have woken up at some point during my shower, because there was a knock at the bathroom door to let me know he was coming in before he entered. He joined me in the shower without a word, but I was done by the time he had started, so I began to make my leave. He grabbed my arm before I could, though.

"Why don't you get dressed and stay for breakfast?" he offered.

I just nodded in return. He seemed to have read my mind, because I was hoping he would ask me to stay to eat. I didn't want him to know I cared, though. So I just left and took a towel to dry off without uttering a word.

* * *

Rivaille decided to make some nice omelets for breakfast accompanied by coffee for me and tea for him. Breakfast itself was kind of tense, silent except for the sounds of our eating and drinking. I noticed his odd way of holding the cup at the rim, but didn't comment on that either. In fact, it was Rivaille to break the silence.

"Yes."

"Yes what?" I replied, confused.

"It was a bad breakup. That picture you saw… You were right about why it's facedown."

"Oh," I responded dumbly. I was at a loss. What could I say to that?

"His name is Erwin," Rivaille continued, "and he was my moon and my stars. But then he got a job offer in Europe and he took it. We were long distance for a while, but then he told me that he'd cheated and that he didn't think we could work out anymore."

"That sounds awful…"

"It was. I guess I keep the picture to remind me of just how bad it felt."

"Oh."

* * *

The conversation went on awkwardly until Rivaille abruptly changed the topic of conversation.

"Rivaille, that's -"

"Don't call me that."

"Why? Isn't that your name?"

"It's a long story. Just… Call me Levi, will you?"

"Ooookay…," I responded, though it sounded more like a question. Still, I knew better than to question him further. He'd already told me so much information, so I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know any more about him. He just seemed very strange to me. Then again, what did it matter? He was just a quick fuck and I didn't particularly care what he wanted to talk about afterwards. I thought that, once he was done talking, I could just leave and never have to worry about him again. Why would I bother?

* * *

After some more less-than-normal conversation, I finally left and headed over to my apartment that I shared with Armin and Jean. When I entered, Armin just looked up from his newspaper, smiled at me, and went back to his morning reading. Jean called from the kitchen, where he was making breakfast.

"Yo, Eren! Want some breakfast?"

"Nah. I already ate."

"Oh! At your trick's house? How did that go, by the way?"

"It was fine. Afterwards he talked to me like I was his therapist, but with how he did last night, I can't even complain."

"Please, Eren. _We_ haven't eaten yet. This is hardly table-friendly conversation," Armin interjected.

I nodded with a roll of my eyes and sat down across from Armin.

"So what's the good news today?"

"I'll tell you when I find it," he joked. All three of us chuckled as Jean brought out the eggs, bacon, and buttered toast for himself and Armin. As two of my best friends began their morning meal, I thought again of how I came to know each of them. Armin had been my best friend since childhood. Just by sheer luck or coincidence or fate, he turned out to be gay as well. We had met Jean at a GSA meeting in high school that Mikasa, my adoptive sister, had suggested us go to. By the time had we graduated from high school, a bunch of our friends had become pretty much inseparable, so we decided to all go to local colleges so we could be nearby and lean on each other. Perhaps Marco's suicide had kicked it off, but we all vowed to keep in touch and help each other no matter what happened. So far that vow had been holding true, even in our junior year of college.

When Armin noticed me staring into space, he just chuckled and pointed it out to Jean jokingly. Jean then responded by clapping with much more force than necessary a few inches from my nose. I jumped an squealed a little, which earned chuckles from both of them.

"You guys are the worst!" I exclaimed angrily, though all of us knew that I was just exaggerating.

"We love you too!" Jean replied.

"Shut up, horse-face," I retorted affectionately, ruffling his hair. This earned a growl from him, warning me to stop talking before I got a fist to the face. After a few seconds of silence, all three of us laughed for a long time. These moments of true friendship were the ones that kept me smiling in hard times because I knew I could always rely on them, as stupid as each of them was. We'd always have each other's backs.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the tease with the smut. I just couldn't do it. Besides, it's not so important to the story or the plot at this point yet. I hope to get chapter three up pretty soon. I've been waiting to write it ever since I started chapter two. Maybe that's also part of why there was such a long wait. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Please review if you have any thoughts for future stuff or critique on what I've already done. Have a good day~!


	3. Past

A/N: So when I said super soon, I meant it. It took me literally about five hours to write this in total. I'm not completely disappointed in it. Let me know what you think of it, though.

A/N 2.0: Also, please don't take offense to the stereotypes I included in this and had the characters mention. They were just kidding, and I don't believe in any of them. It's just comic relief. Please do not go on a rant to me about this...

* * *

It had been two months since I stayed the night at Levi's home. I'd nearly forgotten about him. I'd had too many one-night stands to remember all of them in much detail. Sadly, the ones I remembered the most were the bad ones, the ones that could make me cringe. But I couldn't forget about Levi just yet.

_1 message received!_

Levi? Yes, yes! That guy who had made me wash his shirt! Good fuck, but a little wounded.

_I want to take you out._

_1 message sent!_

_Like…on a date?_

_2 messages received!_

_What else could I mean?_

_Does Saturday at eight work for you?_

_1 message sent!_

_Sure. Are you picking me up or should I meet you there?_

_1 message received!_

_I'll pick you up. Where do you live?_

_1 message sent!_

_Hold on a sec. Lemme find the address…_

After our exchange, I looked up at the calendar. It was Friday. I figured to tell Armin and Jean that I would be going to a date the next day. They both laughed. I wasn't really the type to go on dates often. Sex was good enough for me, and I didn't have much trouble picking up tricks at the clubs like the one our group of friends was going to tonight. First we were going to meet up at Connie and Sasha's apartment to have some liquid courage before we hit the clubs. Armin and Christa were going to be our designated drivers as always, since neither of them liked alcohol very much and they both ended up just puking it up anyways when they did drink.

When Armin, Jean, and I got to the meeting place, everyone else was already there. Ymir and Christa were snuggling together in a wicker chair and Ymir had a beer in hand, though she didn't need it at all to show all of her affections toward Christa in public. Reiner was at the bar mixing a drink for Bertolt, his longtime boyfriend. Reiner played football and Bertolt played basketball in college, and they were well-known as a power couple for more reasons than one and had been since high school, when I'd met them in the GSA. Mikasa was gingerly drinking her whiskey and coke alone while managing the music. Annie was working on her second gin and tonic judging by the fact that her original glass was on the side table beside her, empty. She looked at me when I approached her. She was quiet, like Mikasa, but actually did care about her friends despite how people thought of her as an uncaring jerk. Neither of us said anything as I sat near her, but that was alright. As I continued to scan the room, I saw Jean approach Ymir and Christa to make fun of them lightheartedly and Armin gravitate towards Mikasa. Both of them engaged in intellectual conversation immediately, which always happened. I was shocked at first at how Mikasa's mind didn't dull with the alcohol, but perhaps she just had a high tolerance. I didn't have time to contemplate this before Connie and Sasha walked up to me with a beer for me already. I smiled up at them. They were always the best hosts. Connie was the life of the party and Sasha always made the best food and knew what everyone would like best to drink before they even said a word to her.

"Thanks, guys."

"No problem, man!" Connie shouted over the music.

"Yeah. Expect nothing less from us," Sasha continued before giving Connie a peck on the mouth.

"Careful, guys. Don't act too hetero! Tonight's gay bar night!"

All three of us laughed heartily. Even Annie smiled a bit.

"Seriously, I wonder how our gay-ness hasn't rubbed off on you guys yet!" Annie commented jokingly.

"I know right! We wonder that ourselves, but then we have sex and forget about it." Connie chuckled, earning an elbow to the side by Sasha.

"Alright, guys. Have fun! We've still got drinks to give out!" Sasha concluded and both of them walked away, aiming to give Armin his Coke with three ice cubes and then presumably Jean his appletini.

I turned away from watching them and decided to talk to Annie for a bit.

"Do you think you could teach me some self-defense? I know you have a studio, but since we're friends…" I grinned and she gave just the slightest hints of a smile.

"Sure, but you're going to fail."

"Hey! How can you be so sure just by looking at me?"

"I have an eye for the softies. What's going to happen is you're going to go in thinking you can beat me, then you're going to go easy on me and I'm going to flip you in about three seconds and you're going to get discouraged and leave with your tail between your legs and give me the silent treatment for a few days."

At that analysis, both of us laughed and I nodded, accepting defeat and putting my hands up.

"Okay, maybe that would have happened. But now I'm determined to prove you wrong."

"If you say so, Eren."

* * *

When we were all ready to hit the club, we separated into our normal groups. Armin drove, I sat shotgun, and Mikasa, Jean, and Annie sat in the back seat. In the other car, Christa drove, Ymir sat shotgun, and Connie, Sasha, Reiner, and Bertolt all squeezed into the back seat. Usually, Sasha sat on Connie's lap so there was space for the two broad young men to sit comfortably. Our routines were so regular that it was almost odd. But then, with such a large group, routine was a good way to make sure everyone had a good night and that no one got lost. We also usually stayed in groups or pairs so no one would get raped. That almost happened to Annie once, but luckily she was able to defend herself. Even so, we decided it was best to use the buddy system from then on. So Armin, Jean, Mikasa, and I were responsible for watching each other. Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie kept each other safe, though they were the least likely to need protecting in the first place. Then Ymir and Christa sort of tried to keep to themselves, but other people ended up interrupting their passionate kisses. Connie and Sasha sort of floated around each little group or pairing to make sure everyone has having a good time and to get people drinks or whatever else they needed. In any situation, they were the hosts, even if someone else's house was the location of the party, which was rare in itself.

At the club, we took up two booths near the back, which were our usual places anyway. Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Ymir, Christa, and I all sat at one booth and Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Connie, and Sasha took up the other. Armin went to the bathroom and Mikasa and Jean went to the dance floor, so I was left alone with Ymir and Christa, who usually stayed at the booth the whole night anyway. I decided to strike up conversation with them, since they were usually pretty secluded aside from our nights out.

"So how are you two doing tonight?" I began.

"I'm okay as long as I've got my Christa!" Ymir replied, which elicited a pale blush across Christa's cheeks. Ymir just hugged Christa closer by tightening her grip around her waist.

"How are you, Eren?" Christa asked politely, smiling in her kind way.

"I'm pretty good too, thanks. A guy I fucked two months ago asked me out today."

"Is he at least smoking hot, though?" Ymir asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, very. He seems kind of weird, but I'm willing to get another free meal and good sex out of it," I replied, giggling. Christa's blush deepened, but I knew she was okay with me talking about it. We were a very open lot.

"Unlucky you. I've got the best girlfriend in the whole world right here, and the sex is great. As a matter of fact, last night, she totally surprised me by-" Ymir started, but was cut off by Christa clapping a hand over her mouth.

"So, Eren, about this guy… What's his name? And what does he look like?" Christa implored, changing the topic of conversation effortlessly, but still keeping her hand over Ymir's mouth with a playful glint in her eye. Despite her innocent appearance, she was actually a really funny and smart girl who was not entirely afraid to speak her mind.

"His name is Levi and he's kinda short, but damn is he ripped. And his dick is-" Just then, Eren was cut off by Armin returning from the bathroom.

"What did I miss?" he asked, a knowing look in his eye.

"Oh, Eren was just telling us about his new fuck buddy," Christa informed him. Everyone but Ymir was shocked that she had just sworn. It was such a rare occurance that everyone simply forgot it was possible. Christa had already taken her hand away from Ymir's mouth, so the tall woman's devilish grin was apparent.

"She says so much worse in the bedroom," she announced, breaking the silence.

"That's it! No sex for a month!" Christa exclaimed. All of us laughed except for her. We hadn't realized that she was serious. Upon that realization, Ymir sighed.

"I deserve it," she mumbled. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted!" Christa immediately responded, kissing her in the lips for a little longer than Armin and I were comfortable with. I cleared my throat after about ten seconds and they stopped, but Ymir scowled at me for ending it.

"So does that mean we can have sex this month?"

"Nope!"

"Ah, fuck…"

Again, we all burst into laughter, including Christa.

* * *

The night progressed like that until we finally left the club at around two in the morning. I was a little upset that I couldn't go home with somebody because of my date later, but I sucked it up and let Armin drive me home with the rest of our car posse.

By the time I got to bed and checked my phone, I saw that Ymir had texted me on our drive back to our apartments.

_1 message received!_

_You should bring your boytoy to my apartment in two weeks. Christa and I's anniversary is coming up so I'm throwing her a part. I'm sure she'd love to meet your love interest. ;)_

_1 message sent!_

_We're not lesbians. It's not serious and he would not let me drag him along to her party._

_1 message received!_

_Haha. I'm offended. Well if you change your mind, he's welcome to come. But you're coming whether you like it or not._

_1 message sent!_

_Funny, that's what he said while we were having sex._

_1 message received!_

_Oh my goodness, Eren. You are too much._

_1 message sent!_

_He said that too! Were you spying on me, Ymir?_

_1 message received!_

_Not a chance. I love you, but not THAT much. Speaking of love, Christa is making me food like the good housewife that she is. See ya soon._

_1 message sent!_

_Figures. And of course, if you actually leave the house for once! ;)_

I then got ready for sleep, because I figured no one else would interrupt me at such an hour. Then my phone beeped again, signaling another text message.

"Seriously, Ymir?" I muttered quietly as I checked my phone. To my surprise and pleasure, it wasn't her. It was Levi.

_1 message received!_

_Hey._

_1 message sent!_

_Hey yourself. What's up? Why are you up so early?_

_1 message received!_

_I was just thinking about tonight. Couldn't sleep. What about you?_

_1 message sent!_

_I was clubbing with my friends._

_1 message received!_

_Don't tell me you're drunk._

_1 message sent!_

_No. Just a little buzzed. I was talking to our token lesbians all night. We need them in case we need to replace a tire. ;)_

_1 message received!_

_Ah. Well I'm excited to have a piece of that ass again. ;)_

_1 message sent!_

_You'd better work for it then!_

_1 message received!_

_I expect nothing less._

Before I could reply, I fell fast asleep. Levi probably realized this and stopped texting me, because that was the last message I received from him until that morning. At eight in the morning, the sun was assaulting my eyes as I opened them tentatively. Levi had texted me again five minutes earlier. Perhaps that had woken me up…

_1 message received!_

_Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!_

_1 message sent!_

_Good morning._

The conversation went on normally for a while before Jean called him in for breakfast. Eren took his phone into their breakfast area and texted Levi while he ate.

"Someone's feeling lovey-dovey this morning!" Armin teased with a small grin.

"Just texting my trick."

"He's more than a trick to you. You're smiling like an idiot," Jean added.

"You're not one to talk, horse-face!"

* * *

When the time finally came for me to have to get ready for my date, I stripped down to my rainbow-colored briefs and pondered with Armin and Jean about what to wear, none of us feeling awkward in the slightest. It was a common occurrence for one or a few of us to be in only our underwear around the others.

"So… Are you guys thinking the black jeans or dress pants?"

"Jeans," both of them replied in unison.

"Okay. Yeah. Wouldn't want to be too formal. So the red shirt to go with it?"

"Of course! It compliments your eyes and makes them stand out," Armin confirmed.

"Oh my God, we are so gay."

"Of course we are! That's why they love us!" Jean yipped, putting his arm around me and ruffling my hair. All three of us laughed once again. Afterwards, I put on the clothes and looked it the mirror. It was missing something…

"You need my tie. Lemme get it for you. Wait just a sec," Jean commented, thinking the same thing that I had been.

The tie completed the look well and I gave a smile of gratitude to me friend.

"Thanks," I muttered, the word feeling bitter in my mouth considering who I was thanking.

"Oh, shut up. You're gonna be late!"

Realizing that he was right, I put on my black dress shoes, spritzed on a bit of musky cologne, and was out the door. If Levi was not impressed by my efforts to look nice, I would be seriously upset with him, even though the point of wearing nice clothes was to seem appealing enough for him to want to take them off of me.

When I finally had Levi and his sleek, black car in sight, his steely gray eyes met mine and I realized that Armin was right. I was secretly hoping for us to become boyfriends eventually. _Damn my feelings…_

* * *

A/N: I dunno when chapter four is gonna be out, but hopefully it'll be soon. Sorry for the suspense, I just felt like I had enough content for one chapter. Anyway, leave reviews telling me what you thought and suggestions for what should happen! Thanks for reading! Have a good day!


	4. Present

A/N: I'm actually pretty happy about this one. Hope you like it too!

* * *

"Ready to go, brat?"

"Yeah. Let's go," I replied, opening the car door and sitting down in the passenger's seat. The car smelled brand new, but I could tell that it wasn't. He must have taken really good care of it. But that was nothing new. Even from my limited contact with the man, I could tell that he was a major clean freak. Call it intuition or call it being perceptive, but I had a feeling he had way more kinks and odd mannerisms than I had personally come into contact with yet at that point.

When the car revved into life, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Was I…nervous? No. I couldn't have been. I'd been in so many guys' cars. I'd gone to a bunch of places all over town. Good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, residential neighborhoods. I had seen it all and then some. But the feeling persisted. I couldn't explain it, so I decided instead to try to ignore it. I thought of food in my belly and the contentedness that went along with being fed and not even having to pay for it.

During my time thinking about that, he arrived, and the sudden stop in the parking lot jarred me from my thoughts with a sharp lurch. I didn't mind it and simply figured to get out of the car and follow Levi's lead without commenting on his parking skills, or lack of them.

He lead me into the establishment, which appeared to serve Italian food, but it was not one of those family restaurants with a warm, personal atmosphere. It was stuffy and probably expensive. I chuckled inwardly, glad I wouldn't be paying, even though I would end up having to offer to go halfsies for courtesy. When the hostess say us come in, she smiled softly and led us to our table. It was set for two, as expected. When we sat down, I noticed how Levi's dark green satin shirt shone slightly by the candlelight. After we were both settled, the waitress left us with a plastered-on smile. Ah, customer service…

Minutes later, before either of us had the chance to engage in any serious conversation, she brought a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses, filling them halfway with the same smile on her face and then walked away, still wordless. I wondered how many guys Levi had brought here on dates for her to know what to do without having to ask.

"Why did you ask me to come over that day two months ago?" I asked, breaking the tense silence.

"To be honest, I was horny as fuck."

"Is that why you asked me out then?"

"No. Now I actually want to get to know you better." "Because you told me your secrets, right? You want to make sure I can guard them?" I interrogated, feeling used.

"Not at all, Eren. I don't really know why I told you about my past, but it was at least a little bit because I trusted you. I had this feeling that I could tell you. And we're here now because I was thinking about it and I realized that there are only a few people who you can trust with stuff like that and who will let you tell it all to them and listen to it all and that I needed to at least try with you. I don't want to let this opportunity pass me by," he explained, seeming genuine. While he face rarely seemed to move, I saw in his eyes a new expressing. It looked almost pleading. So I decided that I would give him a shot. If he really thought I was such a good guy, I'd let him find out for himself if he was right.

* * *

Our conversation over dinner was pleasant after that. We didn't talk about any more of that heavy stuff, but I didn't feel that the time we spent together was wasted. When he paid the check and the dinner portion of our date ended, he drove us back to his apartment. When we got there and our shoes and coats were off and neatly stowed, we headed back toward his bedroom, and he had deftly taken off my shirt in a matter of seconds and was working on my pants when I stopped him, placing my hands on his to signal a pause.

"Wait," I started. He just looked up at me, meeting my eyes with confusion on his face. "Not…tonight. Not yet. I, um, don't want to mess this up before it even starts, whatever it is." To this Levi nodded understandingly. He actually gave me a ghost of a smile, appearing pleased at my restraint. It took all of my self-control to deny him, but I knew that if I was ever going to work out with him, I'd need to actually get to know him before we had sex again.

After what seemed to be an eternity of silence, Levi said, "So do you want to stay and watch a movie with me?" In response I nodded and removed my pants so I would be comfortable if I fell asleep during the movie. Knowing Levi's obsession for cleanliness, I folded up my garments and placed them on the arm of a nearby chaise. While I was busy with that, Levi had removed his clothes as well and had only a pair of black basketball shorts worn over his underwear, presumably. I smiled as we both got into bed and he put his arm around me. After about twenty minutes of the movie, neither of us was really paying attention, but it was left on for soothing ambient noise. We cuddled in his bed for some time before I fell asleep in his arms, warmed by peace and the feeling of self-respect I gained by turning down sex in favor of emotional growth. I fell asleep without trying because the peaceful lull that had blended into rest was just as rejuvenating.

* * *

A/N: I know this is short, but I felt this was an important chapter nonetheless because it shows Eren's emotional growth, even if it's just a little. Anyway, leave reviews telling me what YOU think and what you think should happen next! Have a great day!


	5. Future

A/N: SQUEE! This was so much fun to write. So much fun, in fact, that I started it before I even finished chapter four! Disclaimer~ I do not own the rights to _Sarah Smiles_ or Panic! at the Disco or anything else I mentioned in here. No copyright infringement intended!

A/N 2.0: I recommend listening to _Sarah Smiles_ before you read this so you know what it sounds like and stuff.

A/N 3.0: Sorry for the typos. I'll work on finding and editing them out. I always seem to notice them right after I publish! Anyway, please excuse the typos and bear with me. Thank you and enjoy!

* * *

When the time finally came for the anniversary celebration to congratulate Ymir and Christa on five years of dating, I arrived with Levi, who I'd convinced to come because I figured it would be nice for him to finally meet my friends who I spoke so fondly of.

The couple's apartment was smallish, but cozy. Christa had no-doubt decorated the whole place, for it was filled with heart-shaped furniture, décor, etc. I sat down on their plush, white couch next to Levi, who had his arm draped loosely around my shoulder. Connie approached us with two beers, but Levi turned his down because he would be driving that night. Connie shrugged and downed the beer he had previously been working on so he could have the new one that he'd already opened for my date that night. After about fifteen minutes of socializing, talking, and light nighttime festivities, Ymir raised her voice to announce that she would be singing Christa a song. The taller girl led her lover to the middle of the living room area where everyone else was already gathered and they stood near the TV so everyone could see them.

"Tonight I'll be singing a cover of _Sarah Smiles_ by Panic! at the Disco, but this version will be _Christa Smiles_ instead," she grinned and then began to sing with surprisingly pleasant voice which none of us had heard in song before.

_"__I was fine; just a girl living on my own,  
Waiting for the sky to fall  
Then you called and changed it all,  
Doll,_

_Velvet lips and the eyes to pull me in,  
We both know you'd already win,  
Mm your original sin,_

_You fooled me once with your eyes now, honey,  
You fooled me twice with your lies and I say,_

_Christa smiles like Christa doesn't care,  
She lives in her world so unaware,  
Does she know that my destiny lies with her?  
Christa  
Oh Christa are you saving me?_

_Waking up to a kiss and you're on your way,  
I really hoped that you would stay,  
But you left and went your own way,  
Babe,_

_I don't mind, take your time, I got things to do,  
Besides sit around and wait for you,  
Oh and I hope you do too,_

_You fooled me once with your eyes now honey,  
You fooled me twice with your lies and I say,_

_Christa smiles like Christa doesn't care,  
She lives in her world so unaware,  
Does she know that my destiny lies with her?  
Christa,  
Oh Christa,  
Are you saving me?_

_And it's killing me inside,  
Consuming all my time,  
You've left me blind,  
And when I think I'm right,  
You strip away my pride,  
You cast it all aside, but I say,_

_Christa smiles like Christa doesn't care,  
She lives in her world so unaware,  
Does she know that my destiny lies with her?"_

As if Christa wasn't crying already due to the show that Ymir had passionately put on for her in song, the taller girl slowly lowered herself onto a lone knee and took her lover's hand, looking up into her eyes.

I even felt myself getting a little teary for the couple as Christa's breath visibly hitched in her throat when Ymir pulled a small, velvet-covered box from her pocket and opened it, offering the diamond ring inside it to Christa.

_"__Christa  
Oh, Christa, will you marry me?"_

"Oh my God, Ymir! Of course I will! Yes!" At that excited reaction, Ymir put the ring on her new fiancee's finger and stood up to kiss her. Out of nowhere it seemed, Sasha popped up with a camera and took a snapshot. She had apparently been filming everything as well. Ymir probably asked her to preserve those memories. I just wish I had filmed it too, because that was so beautiful. I didn't notice it until I felt a cold thumb rub against my cheek, but I had been crying tears of joy for my newly engaged close friends. So that was why Ymir had been so forceful in telling me that I had to be there and why she'd been acting weird lately. Well I didn't care about all that anymore. All of my thoughts were consumed with happiness for Ymir and Christa. They really were perfect together and would be a fantastic pair.

After the kiss had ended, Christa began jumping up and down like an excited child, flashing her new ring to everyone around. Ymir just stood near her with the happiest expression I'd ever seen her wear on her face and tears running down her cheeks. I decided to approach the happy couple to congratulate them. Since everyone was clustered around Christa, I went to Ymir.

"I can't believe you just did that," I began.

"Neither can I," she breathed, seeming to still be in shock.

"Hey, girl! Why don't you join in the fun, huh? Connie has already broken out the champagne, so wipe away those tears and let's party like there's no tomorrow!" I encouraged her. Sometimes she got so wrapped up in herself because of the effect that Christa had on her that she forgot how to act happy.

"Yeah… This engagement party is just getting started!" she joined in after a bit of thought. I smiled at that and gave her an encouraging arm squeeze before giving her space to shower her fiancee with kisses. Connie quickly called upon Jean to help him pass out the red plastic cups of champagne to everyone but those we were planning on driving home that night, though Ymir had announced that everyone was welcome to sleep over at their place and leave the following morning if they wanted to drink to their engagement.

Everyone partied late into the night, congratulating the couple of the night every time one or both of them was seen. Most people had a bit more to drink than they should have, but who could blame them? When the party was finally over, everyone but me, Levi, Sasha, and Annie was planning on staying the night. The ride home was silent, but the quiet was not unwelcome for either of us, for we both needed time to process what had just happened. When Levi pulled up in front of my apartment building and stopped next to the curb, I turned to him and our gazes met, remaining fixed for what seemed like forever before I broke the silence with a question I suddenly felt the urgent need to ask.

"Do you want to get married someday?"

* * *

A/N: Eek, cliffhanger! Tell me what you thought of this chapter (especially the proposal, because I thought it was super cute) in the reviews section and let me know what you think should happen next! Have a great day!

A/N 2.0: Thank you for the praise, CrescentMoonTenshi. LeviXEren is my male OTP (with YmirXChrista being my female OTP, obviously). I didn't know I was good enough of a writer to convince you of it, though. I'm super flattered. I kind of noticed that Levi was a bit OoC, but I felt it was important for him to go off on his speeches, otherwise it would have been rather bland what with me stalling on the smut. I'm glad you're excited about this. Hopefully this update was soon enough for you. XD

A/N 3.0: I'm think about doing a Yumikuri fic in the same AU as this. Of course it wouldn't just be the exact same story, but some of the events would probably still happen. Thoughts?


	6. Friendsgiving

A/N: This isn't really the most interesting chapter in my opinion, but I tried to lump all of the not-as-fun stuff into this so it wouldn't drag on too far into the story. Please enjoy nonetheless!

* * *

At my sudden inquiry, Levi sighed deeply. He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his neatly styled undercut. I noticed how tired he looked. The bags under his eyes seemed to darken, the air of confidence around him dissipated, and he just seemed older and more tired overall. I regretted bringing it up. So instead of waiting for him to answer, I gave his hand a squeeze and his cheek a peck and left, entering my apartment with a cloud of unease floating over me. What could I take his unwillingness to answer to mean? Did he not want to get serious? Did he not want to get married? Or worse…was he already married? Was he one of those people who was married to a woman but dated men due to their shame about being gay?

I felt a whirlwind of confusion, sadness, anger, and regret take over my thoughts. I didn't bother to look at my phone as it buzzed in my pocket. It was Levi, I knew. He would probably be trying to explain himself or make amends. Well I wasn't having any of it. Not right then, at least. I needed time and sleep to soothe my thoughts. I left my phone on a pile of clothes so I wouldn't hear it vibrating and went off to bed.

* * *

It was about ten in the morning when I woke up. Feeling much more calm and relaxed than I had felt last night, I checked my phone. It would be just cruel to make Levi wait too long after that. He was probably just as upset as I was last night.

_12 messages received!_

_6 missed calls!_

Rather than reading all of the text messages he'd sent me, I just called him back. He answered on the second ring, his voice sounding raspy, as if he hadn't slept very well or perhaps hadn't had a sip of water in hours.

"Hello?" he answered groggily.

"Hi. I just woke up this morning and noticed that you tried to contact me last night," I began, feeling slightly nervous myself. It felt like my chest was tightening. What was the meaning of this feeling?

"Oh. That. Listen, I-"

"No, no. It's okay. You don't have to answer me. I dragged you to that party last night and then I kept putting you in an uncomfortable position. Everyone has boundaries and I forgot to respect yours. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Your friends are great. It's a surprise that they even _want_ to associate with a brat like you," he joked, though the reservation in his voice showed his insecurity.

"That's the Levi I know and lo- Um...like," I chuckled, though as I almost let the L-word slip, it just faded into a nervous giggle.

There was a long silence on the line after that and I wondered if he had gotten scared. I knew I was, so I couldn't exactly blame him.

"Can I go over there so we could talk in person?" he asked suddenly. I forced my questions about his motives aside, though.

"Sure. I'll be here."

* * *

When I heard a light knock at the door, I scrambled to the door like an excited puppy waiting for its owner to come back home. I had just spent the time I had in between my call with Levi and his arrival shoving all the clothes on the floor into closets and washing dishes so he wouldn't be disgusted at our residence, though it was pretty clean as far as college kids' apartments went.

As soon as I opened the door, the man who had been standing behind it instantly pressed his lips onto me. It wasn't long before I caught on and reciprocated. I wasn't sure how long we had been standing there just kissing at my threshold, but after a while I pulled away, leaving Levi looking just a bit disappointed for that split second before he remembered to steel his face so he was once again cool and emotionless.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked with a chuckle, stepping out of the way so he could enter.

"Gladly," he whispered in my ear as he crossed the threshold. As soon as I heard the sexual tone in his voice, I mentally facepalmed at my unintentional innuendo.

"So…are we good?" I inquired dumbly, changing the topic of conversation to something a little more important.

"Well let me explain myself first." I just nodded to indicate that I was alright with that plan. I kept my eyes on him as I shut and locked the door to the apartment and then sat down on the couch in our living room area, letting him know that I had time to listen to whatever he wanted to tell me.

Despite his quirks, there was something about Levi that drew me in and left me wanting more. I desperately wanted him to see how much I actually cared, even though we'd only known each other for a short time.

"I got scared when you asked me that question. It forced me to think about forever. Forever…with somebody else. It's a huge decision and I'm just not sure if it's for me," he went on, gulping when he finished his quiet summary of his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"Don't say that. We don't need to be worrying about marriage yet anyway," I reassured him, cupping his face in my hands, a light smile on my lips. He returned my smile and pulled me closer. Shortly thereafter, we closed what was left of the space with a series of short, chaste kisses which then evolved into longer, more passionate ones.

* * *

Somehow we ended up in my bedroom, shedding clothes and littering them haphazardly around. There was little thinking involved, yet it was not frenzied like before. Both of us were sober and cognizant of ourselves and each other.

It was a mystery to me how I was suddenly on my back and there was a condom and lube involved. Perhaps because, once the kisses started, it all seemed to melt into one fluid motion, with both of us taking care of the preparations without killing the mood.

* * *

Once both of us were finished, we took a shower to clean off and then plopped down on the couch as if nothing had happened. We didn't need to talk about it because both of us knew it was good and there was nothing to say in particular anyways.

I turned the TV on to some boring cooking show which both of us watched but neither cared about in particular. I was nestled into his arm for it was wrapped comfortably around my shoulders. He spoke once the host told us to wait until after the commercial to see her finished pastries.

"Do you want to attend the Friendsgiving party I'm going to?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Of course. You've met my friends. Now I have to meet yours, right?" I joked lightheartedly. I wanted to meet his friends anyway and a party with them seemed like fun. I just hoped they wouldn't completely disapprove of me.

"Well they've been wanting to meet you too. They're quite the colorful bunch, though. Consider yourself warned," he said lowly. I chuckled, assuming he was joking. Little did I know that his advisory was a serious one.

* * *

When the day finally came for the Friendsgiving celebration, Levi picked me up at my apartment building and we took a little drive out to the suburbs, then further out into the forested areas outside of town. When we reached the mansion in which his friend lived, I felt a slight pang of jealousy. He must have really rich and famous friends. And they must have really good lives. But when I thought about it further, I realized that I didn't need fame or money to be happy. I had the best friends I could ever ask for and I loved them all. With that thought, I smiled as I walked toward the imposing structure with Levi. Nothing could faze me!

Almost nothing… I found an interesting surprise when a woman with brown hair, brown eyes, glinting glasses, and a crazed expression on her face answered the door. She saw Levi first and spoke excitedly.

"LEVI! It's been far too long!" She hugged him affectionately, though he looked much like a ragdoll as he just sort of stood there and accepted it. He certainly didn't look very happy about it and I wondered who this woman was. I didn't have time to ponder further before she noticed me and almost deafened me with her squeal of excitement.

"Ooh! You must be Eren! I'm soooo happy to finally be meeting you! My name is Hanji, by the way! Ooooh!" she spurted, hugging me so hard I couldn't move. I understood why Levi appeared to not want to reciprocate. He couldn't. I tried to moved me arm to embrace her too, but I only managed to pat her mid-back lightly. Just as I thought I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, she released her vice-like grip on me and bounced away, leading us into her foyer. It was grand and mostly cream-colored, with marble covering the floors and walls. Everything glistened, including the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. This woman had to be absolutely loaded with cash.

* * *

While the hors d'oeuvres were tasty, I was getting hungrier by the minute. Fancy people parties seemed less and less appealing as time went on. However, before my stomach had the opportunity to growl loudly for all to hear, a whole group of people just up and left. This confused me, but then I realized that all of the people who had left were acquaintances, coworkers, and friends of friends. Hanji smiled as she saw the last stuck-up guests out, waved, and then slammed the door shut behind them. When she turned back to those of us who were left, I noticed that only me, a diminutive woman with orange hair, a blond man who looked sort of plain, Levi, and Hanji were left. Were we finally going to eat some turkey? That question was answered for me when Hanji led us to a much smaller room with a circular table set for five.

Hanji sat down first, with Levi and the blond man on either side of her. I sat down in the chair next to Levi and the orange-haired woman took the only remaining seat in between me and the blond. When everyone was situated, the woman sitting next to me smiled and spoke to me kindly, which I was grateful for.

"Hello there. I'm Petra and this," she indicated to herself and then the blond man sitting next to her, "is Mike. You're Eren, right? It's nice to meet you."

I would have been off-put by the fact that Levi's friends all seemed to know me already, but the way they accepted me so openly overshadowed any doubts I had about them. I smiled and nodded in response to her, just wanting to take it all in. The table was already covered in food, with the turkey of course taking center stage. Around it were bowls of beans, mashed potatoes, mashed _sweet_ potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pumpkin puree, and all other sorts of autumn foods. I felt truly at home at that table, despite only having meeting everyone else in the room recently, including my date, I reflected. We'd only been together for about a month. But with the way his friends took me in, you'd think we'd been dating for much longer. It was a surprise how warm they were in contrast to Levi himself. I supposed he just attracted nice people because of how mysterious or brooding he seemed. Or something.

* * *

Levi and I finally left Hanji's house around one in the morning. Between eating, drinking, and telling stories, time seemed to go by in a flash. Over the course of the night I learned that Hanji was a biologist with a government job, which is how she could afford such a luxurious home, Petra was a veterinarian, and Mike was a chef, which was because his sense of smell was so prodigious that his talent for cooking was practically innate. He could _smell_ what his food needed, apparently. While the three people I had met that night were very interesting and funny, I felt immensely tired by the end of the night. When Levi dropped me off at my apartment building, I was afraid I would fall asleep before reaching my unit. Luckily, my fears were not realized. I made it to unit 543 without incident, though by the time I undressed and laid my head down on the pillow, I was fast asleep, content with the day's events.

* * *

A/N: I don't want to go any farther than that on the sex description for now by the way because I don't feel comfortable writing it. It seems just a tad gross and overdone to me to describe it too much, but I also wouldn't be able to really do it justice even if I did want to write it. So...sorry about that.

A/N 2.0: Lemme know what you thought of this chapter and what you think should happen next. Have a great day!


	7. Karaoke

A/N: Okay, so this chapter happens after a really long time skip. Don't get confused, I just wanted to have a realistic timeline in their relationship. Enjoy!

* * *

Many months had passed since the Friendsgiving celebration, though nothing of particular interest happened. Levi turned 28 on Christmas day and we had a celebration, but I remember nothing due to the hardcore drinking that occurred that night. I seem to recall that night ending with crazed sex which was probably more enjoyable than it should have been due to the excess of alcohol that both my boyfriend and I had consumed. Neither of us remembered what happened in much detail, but my limp suggested that _something _went on that was less than holy. We both agreed not to both drink that much again, for it was a little jarring for both of us to completely blank out on an entire night.

In March, I turned 22 and the crushing realization that I would have to start looking for jobs in my field soon was weighing down on me. When I started college, I had such a passion for breaking free of the cage of our world by studying the great black universe outside of our own tiny existence. Little did I know how daunting it would be. However, I was determined still to make it outside of the constricting atmospheric walls someday, or at least get humanity a step closer towards being able to explore all of the great unknowns that resided there.

Anyway, in May, the six-month anniversary of Levi and I's relationship was coming up, so I was heading to Levi's apartment with a plan. When I knocked at the door, he answered it with the ghost of a smile touching his lips and gave me a gentle peck. Though he was often brash, rude, and downright unpleasant to others – much to my friends' dislike – he did have a gentler, softer side which he showed more often than people thought. It was simply a matter of knowing the signs.

It was about noontime when I visited because I had to go into work at a coffee shop on campus that morning. We spent the afternoon snuggling up together watching terrible movies and making fun of them after eating a light salad for lunch. When six o' clock rolled around, I stopped him from putting on another movie.

"We're going out to dinner tonight for our anniversary, my treat," I informed him with a grin.

"Oh?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to drive me there and pull out my chair for me and pay for it?" he went on sarcastically.

"If that's what you want, then I'll do it. But I'm paying no matter what you say."

"Oh, c'mon, babe. I was just kidding. Let me. I have the resources."

"And what makes you think that _I_ don't?" I shouted.

"I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just saying that you could put them to better use than feeding me. You have college bills to worry about."

"So what? I can't do one nice thing for you without you complaining about it? Seriously, Levi! First, you have this secret past that I can't know about. Then you insist on everything being the way you want it. And you know what else, _babe_?" I spat with malice. "You don't even love me. Do you want to know how many times you've said that to me? Zero! You haven't told me that you love me. I tell you that almost every day and you don't even have the decency to let me know that you feel the same? Or don't you? Do you just lead me on for some ulterior motive? Do you have a piece on the side? Or two? Or five?"

Levi put his hand on my shoulder and opened his mouth to speak, but I stood up and flung his hand away. Tears were welling up in my eyes and spilt over when I spoke again.

"No. Don't even touch me. I don't care what you have to say. Just… Don't call me, don't look for me. Leave me alone!"

Levi shouted after me, but when I ran out of his home and slammed the door behind me, he didn't follow. I hopped in my car feeling destroyed emotionally and sat in the driver's seat for a while, sobbing with my forehead against the steering wheel, just praying that no one saw me. After staying in that position for a while, I decided to go to Ymir and Christa's place. They'd been together for a long time, so I figured they'd know what to do. I shot Christa a text saying that I would be coming over and that I needed them and immediately got a heart as a response, her way of letting me know that I was welcome with them and that she loved me. Smiling bitterly through my tears, I started the car and drove erratically to the other side of town, easily finding a parking spot in their garage and running up the stairs to the fourth floor. I only had to knock once for Christa to open the door. I didn't have to say a word for her face to drop. She knew exactly who was on my mind.

The short woman led me to a cushy armchair and fetched me some water and a box of tissues before sitting next to her fiancée on the loveseat across from me.

"So…tell us what's on your mind," she began, even though she knew the gist of the story already from how shitty I looked.

"Our six-month anniversary is coming up soon," I rasped. I couldn't go any farther than that without grabbing a tissue to wipe away the tears from my eyes. Both of them settled in at that point, because the explanation process was not going to be a short one.

* * *

After having thoroughly explained all of the things that had caused me to get so upset to the women, they paused and looked at each other, seemingly communicating with their eyes alone.

"And you're sure you don't want me to kill him?" Ymir finally asked. I just chuckled sadly in response and shook my head.

"Well then I think you should think about it this way: if you had some horrible past that scarred you badly enough for you to hate and distrust the majority of the human race, would you go around blabbing about it? And would you trust someone with your love? Because love is a very dangerous thing for people involved in certain shady businesses-" Ymir started, but I cut her off.

"What makes you so sure he's involved in illegal stuff?" I raised my voice again, feeling quite impatient.

"Let me finish. I was _going _to say that he's just trying to take care of you and look out for you. Even if he hasn't said that he loves you, doesn't the fact that he wants to take care of you and pay for you and do everything for you show that he does? Don't get me wrong, it's important to tell someone what they mean to you, but can you honestly blame him that he hasn't yet? He's obviously scared out of his mind and what you have to do is let him know that you accept him for all of his faults because you _do _love him. Give him time and space, but…I really think that you should give it another go." She smiled gently before continuing with a more upbeat tone in her voice. "Why don't we go do some karaoke tonight and drink our troubles away, huh?"

I nodded halfheartedly while Christa smiled softly and went off to get a comb from the bathroom.

"You can't go out looking like that, though. I'll clean you up while Ymir calls everybody up. We're going to have a good time whether you like it or not!" she expressed passionately. I chuckled at her ability to make any situation seem conquerable. Come to think of it, I also was quite thankful to Ymir for being bold enough to call me on how irrational I was being. Though her empathy was commonly overlooked, she had a very keen knack for reading people's emotions and responding in a way that was blunt, yet informative of what had to be done. I knew I was indebted to all of my friends greatly, but Ymir and Christa knew best what to do and say around me to help me with relationships. In the past, when I had simply picked up strangers in clubs for one-night stands constantly, they carefully consoled and comforted me when someone stole something from me, or when I had an STI scare. Luckily they also knew how to make me a better boyfriend, or else I'd be so screwed.

* * *

When it was time to go to the only karaoke place in town to drink and sing our hearts out, Christa and Ymir drove me there and told me that I could stay at their place that night so I wouldn't have to worry about taking a taxi home and picking up my car in the morning.

The place was shrouded in a dark blue light and there was a man appearing to be in his forties at the mic when we walked in at around ten. Armin, Sasha, Connie, and Jean were already seated at the table with fries ordered and the rest of our group of friends arrived in a steady trickle after we got comfortable. We kept a steady tab of French fries and beer open, replenishing our supply as soon as it ran low. We had a pact that, whenever we went to the karaoke place, everyone had to sing at least one song that night, so after everybody signed up for their songs, the air grew tenser with anticipation.

Ymir and Christa were up first from our party. They went up together and sang a nice-sounding, but predictable love song. Usually Ymir did a rap solo or something like that, but this time she actually sang with her fiancée. Connie, Sasha, Armin, Jean, Reiner, and Bertl sang songs that left no major impression on me. I wasn't listening, really. Mikasa sang _I Will Survive_ by Gloria Gaynor, which made me a little concerned for her, but she brushed it off as nothing when I questioned her. Annie sang _Girls Just Want To Have Fun_ by Cyndi Lauper which was pretty entertaining considering her usually disinterested expression. Lastly, I sang _Young and Beautiful _by Lana del Rey, not because I particularly related to it, but because I knew I could sing it without sounding like a dying cow. When I left the stage to my friends and a few strangers clapping absentedmindedly for me, I felt a cold sweat coming on as I heard the person announce that someone named Levi would be singing next. How many Levis could there possibly be in this city? I hoped that it would not be my Levi, but my fears were confirmed when I sat down facing the stage and saw him approaching the microphone nervously. I looked on the screen and saw that he would be singing _How Can I Tell You _by Cat Stevens.

I panicked and looked to Christa and Ymir, but they just smiled knowingly at me and urged me to watch his performance. As soon as he opened his mouth to sing, I felt my cheeks go hot with tears that had spilled out onto them. When he looked across the crowd and his eyes fell onto mine, I felt them linger there for quite a long time before he finally moved on. When the song was over, I felt the stares of most people in the room boring into me before the room erupted in applause and cheers. I'm pretty sure Jean started it, but soon after that the room was filled with chants of 'kiss, kiss, kiss!' I wiped away my tears and stood up with shaking knees as everyone egged me on, my friends most passionately. Once I had finally reached the stage, my heart seemed to be pounding much louder than the cheers in the room. For a moment we just looked at each other. Levi's eyes asked me if I was okay with the situation, to which I pulled him in with more force than thought. The time seemed to pass by much too quickly, but Levi eventually pulled away and looked at me with soft eyes.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I breathed, feeling slightly faint. He felt me loosen in his arms and gently supported me as we exited the stage. "Say…do you think I could stay at your place tonight?"

"Sure. Maybe soon it'll be _our_ place."

* * *

A/N: Okay, so I included some more major conflict in this, but I'm building up to the Earth-shattering drama. Didn't want them to break up so soon. XD But seriously, I really tried to make them have a long fight, but for the sake of the flow of the story, I decided to have them make up kinda quickly so they could have more serious drama down the road instead of right off the bat. Tell me what you thought of the story, though (and what you think should happen next! Have a great day!


	8. Rewind

A/N: This is kinda short, but it's the start of a new arc. Get ready for that drama. As always, please enjoy!

* * *

It was a warm day outside, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It had just rained the day before, so that must have cooled down the air. I walked the streets alone on my way back from the Asian market with a bunch of interesting things for Levi and I to try together. We thought it would be fun to do a little experiment by trying new foods. The bags weren't really all that heavy, but I kinda wished I could get some help with them because my hands were getting a little tired. I was distracted from all of this when an unfamiliar voice called from behind me.

"Hey, you!" the voice beckoned. I turned around to face the owner of the voice. I'm sure the last look on my face was surprise, because in the split second before the sharp pain and the blackness, I saw a face I knew vaguely but never expected to see.

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep, beep._

The harsh sound was not exactly a nice way to wake up. I wondered why Levi had changed the way the alarm sounded and why it kept going for so long. I felt for him to ask, but found that I was in the bed alone. Also, it felt a lot smaller than I remembered it. And did Levi change the sheets to a lower thread count? Opening my eyes tentatively, I was temporarily blinded by bright lights in my eyes. Rubbing my face, I blinked. Upon further investigation, I determined that I definitely was not at my apartment, nor at Levi's. The place didn't look familiar. Everything was white and the room was blocked off from the rest of the place by what looked like a shower curtain. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was in a hospital. That beeping must have been my heart monitor; it sounded like the ones on TV shows. Just as that realization sank in, I felt a sharp pain in my head, probably from sitting up after being asleep for God knows how long. How long had I been out? Was it minutes, hours, days? And what happened? The last thing I remembered was getting ready to visit Levi that morning… Was it even the same day? Oh God… As I grew more and more hysterical, a man in scrubs holding a clipboard walked in.

"Oh! You're up!" he stated obviously. It took all I had not to roll my eyes at him, despite the situation.

"Obviously. Now tell me how long I was out." I was not in any mood to mess around. Unfortunately, my head was still cloudy, so I ended up sounding more like: 'obvi. N' till m' long I's ow.' Nevertheless, he understood what I meant.

"You've been here for…let's see here…sixteen days." At this news, I became even more greatly distressed. I opened my mouth to speak, but he handed me a notebook and a pen instead. "You should write down what you want to say if it's important until you fully wake up." I nodded and looked down at the notebook. When I tried to move my right arm, it just seemed to have a spasm and give the hospital bed a hard whack, which hurt more than my head in that moment.

"Hm… Let me call in the doctor. He'll know more specifically what to do in this situation."

"Wait!" I called after the nurse, sounding sort of like a deaf cow. "Is 'ere 'ny vis'tors?"

"Uh…for you? Yeah. A couple people are out there. Barely left, actually. I'll ask the doctor if they can see you now. They spent a little time with you while you were in your coma." He chuckled on his way out, shaking his head. Under his breath I could hear him whisper, "fucking fags. This is why they should be kept from regular people. They go around just asking to get hit over the head and when they do, it's the normal guy's fault. People these days…"

Growling lowly, I balled my left hand into a fist. "Homophobic prick," I muttered.

When the doctor came to see me, he told me that I had lost my motor skills in my right arm and hand, so I would have to work on regaining those for a bit. He said I should be able to write and use my hand afterwards, but that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. All of this didn't matter to me as much as it mattered to see my friends. The doctor told me that they could come in, but that if I got too excited, they would have to leave me alone.

Soon afterwards, Mikasa threw aside the curtain and hugged me close for a long time. I tried to return the favor, but my hand was shaking too badly and it must have felt as if I was trying to hit her, because she released me and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Can't con'rl 't."

"Oh. That's okay," she smiled sadly, tears touching her eyes. "You'll recover."

I nodded absentmindedly, looking around the room which seemed awfully cramped because it was full of my friends. When I first looked at all of them, I couldn't fully recognize them. My blurry vision didn't exactly help that. However, as the memories slowly returned of them, I smiled brightly. All of them seemed to be either crying, wiping their tears away, or biting their lips to hold in tears. I felt on roll onto my cheek when I thought of how amazing they were to care about me so much. Fuck the asshole nurse, I was surrounded by love and care and that was what mattered.

Speaking of love, where was Levi? I was sure he'd be waiting for me to wake up with the rest of them, but I couldn't see him anywhere. My brows furrowed in confusion as I looked up at Armin and Mikasa, who hovered over me on either side of the bed.

"Levi?" I asked, deciding that they'd probably get the picture well enough. They exchanged worried glances and Armin took my hand gently with a great heaving sigh before he spoke.

"Levi…didn't visit."

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you think of this new arc so far! It's just going to get more intense from here, by the way, so get ready for some facepalm-worthy dramatic irony. Have a great day!


	9. Blackmail

A/N: This chapter will be from Levi's point of view.

A/N 2.0: I did a sort of double post because I'm going to be occupied all day tomorrow. Please enjoy!

* * *

The room was cold and dark and gray. When I woke up, I wondered briefly where I was before it all came back to me. I sat with my arms tied behind my back to a chair, my legs too. The chair, I remembered, was bolted to the ground because it only served the purpose of keeping prisoners in place. I reeked of blood, vomit, urine, sweat, and excrement. All my muscles and bones ached from being in the same defeated position for days, weeks. I forgot how long I was in there exactly. I didn't even have the luxury of a legal prisoner. At least they had food delivered regularly, showers, the ability to walk…

Despite it all, I found it in my tired self to chuckle. "You know," I muttered to no one in particular, "when I was on the other end of this affair, it was a lot more fun."

"That was then. This is now. And you're not going to have any fun here," responded a low voice coming from a blackened corner.

"Oh. Pardon me. I didn't know you were there, Kenny." My voice was curt, or as curt as it could have been with the undertone of pathetic-ness due to how raspy and broken it was.

"Spare me. I'm only in here to tell you something. It should interest you…greatly."

"If this is about going back to you, it's not happening. I made my choice a long time ago and I can handle the consequences just fine, thank you."

"Oh, it's not that at all. I don't need you anymore. You're too old, too tired. No. I just came to show you some polaroids I thought you might want to see."

"They're called pictures now. You're a bit behind on the times."

"I may be, but these are only about two weeks old." He walked around so he was standing behind me and held the pictures in front of my face, switching around the picture that I could see at the front of the stack every so often. And what were the pictures of?

The first ones he showed were of Eren with shopping bags in his hands from odd angles. It seemed that he had people following him, taking pictures. I didn't know what his plan was, but if he was trying to scare me by showing me that he knew Eren and what he meant to me, he'd have to do more than take long-range pictures.

The next few were of Eren lying facedown on the ground with a pool of blood around his head. I could see that his clothes were muddy from the fall and the grocery bags were situated haphazardly around him, some items outside of the bags because of the sudden fall. Next to Eren's head was a newspaper with the date printed on it. I could vaguely place that around the time I was taken. Upon seeing these disturbing photos, I looked away, but Kenny moved my head so I looked at them again. I tried to close my eyes, but Kenny seemed to already have predicted that I would try that and chuckled. He released me and circled around me again so he was in front of me and no behind me, tossing the pictures at my feet on his way there.

There was a long silence before I finally said, "he's alive."

"You're right. Not for long, but you're right."

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's funny that you think I want you do something for me in return for his life."

"But you do, or else you wouldn't be bothering with him. He doesn't know a thing."

"He knows you."

"All this to get back at me? Why not just let me be, then? I haven't caused you any trouble."

"No. I _do_ want something from you."

"And what's that?"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. I want to give you some time to think about how much you love him."

"I'll do it!" I called out desparately.

"No, no. You don't even know what it is. I won't give you the satisfaction of a guarantee yet."

"Then do one thing for me."

"You're the one with everything to lose, remember?"

"I know. But I want you to promise me that no one will hurt him again. I want you to protect him." In response, my old mentor just laughed me off.

"Oh? And what's my incentive for promising you this?"

"I'll do whatever you want."

"Not good enough."

"What do you want then?" I shouted, pulling at the handcuffs that bound me to the chair.

"Oh, I'm not telling you. You should be smart enough to figure it out already. What do you have that I want…?"

"I'll give it to you. I'll give over what I took when I left."

"That's a good boy!"

"So do you promise?"

"I'll think about it, kid. I'll think about it." He ruffled my hair before heading for the heavy steel door.

"Oh, and one last thing." I lifted my head, tired and disgusted with myself for giving Kenny such perfect leverage. Just when I thought he'd forgotten about me and it was safe, he waltzed right back into my life… "You haven't changed a bit from the small, pathetic, stupid kid you were when I met you. I would think you'd have at least learned something, but you're still two steps behind." I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what he was getting at. "I'm disappointed in you, Levi."

* * *

A/N: Ooh, drama! As promised, it's getting more intense. This is kind of a short one, but I didn't want to give too much away! Anyway, tell me what you thought and what you think should happen next in the reviews! Have a great day.


	10. Message

A/N: Okay, so this is when Eren starts to show more of his canon side. It's about a week after the last chapter, by the way. Please enjoy!

* * *

"What do you mean he hasn't been in to work?" I shouted into the receiver. "No, I don't know where he is! That's why I'm talking to you." The secretary at the high school that Levi worked at was stupider than I thought was humanly possible, and I wouldn't even consider myself to be all that smart either.

Once I couldn't take her pointless questions any longer, I simply hung up on her and slammed my good fist against the wall in frustration.

"Careful, now. You wouldn't want to injure that one too, would you?" Mikasa joked casually, resting a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll find out where he went."

"Bullshit! He's not home, I couldn't find any family, his friends don't know where he is, his work doesn't know anything either! What the hell else am I supposed to do? He just skipped town!" I snarled, slipping away from my sister's grip. She opened her mouth to speak, but my physical therapist interrupted before she could.

"Sorry to barge in, but it's time for your exercise!" she chirped. I grunted angrily and went with her, leaving Mikasa alone in my room with a defeated look on her face. I felt bad for snapping at her, but there was no time for apologies. I had to get better so I could keep looking and not be just another pathetic patient calling from the hospital phone. Some would call me possessive, but I just knew that he wouldn't just not visit me for sixteen days. He had weekends off and didn't work after four on weekdays. I was certain he would have at least called my friends to check in every so often. Something had to be wrong. Maybe he'd gotten kidnapped!

"Mr. Yeager, are you okay?" she asked, concern laced in her voice.

"What? Oh, yeah. Don't worry about me, Marie. I was just thinking is all."

"Okay. Could you try to pick up this mug and move it to the red X on the table?"

I shrugged, not really sure if I could do it, but I had to try. So I carefully moved my right arm to grasp the mug. It was already shaking, which made an awfully annoying tapping sound on the table. Ignoring my annoyance, I lifted the mug up off the table tentatively and guided it ever so slowly towards the X. After about two minutes of concentration, I managed to put it down again, though the whole thing was less than graceful.

"Wow. Just yesterday you couldn't even pick it up for more than a couple seconds. What happened?" Marie inquired, seeming genuinely happy for me. I couldn't share in her joy.

"My boyfriend is missing and I have to get better so I can find out where he is."

"These things take time," she warned.

"I don't care what it takes. If I have to spend hours moving mugs and picking up jumbo paper clips to show you that I can, that's what I'll do."

"Well I admire your determination, but you should really focus on yourself and your recovery."

"What's the point of 'me' if there's no 'us'?"

* * *

"A package for you, Eren!" Armin said in his singsong voice. I knew he was just trying to cheer me up, so I didn't call him on it and just took the package.

It was a medium-sized box that was sort of heavy. I wondered what it could be. There was no return address either, which seemed odd. My blond friend offered his keys so I could cut the tape sealing the parcel. Inside, I found a bloody brick in a plastic bag, an old flip phone, and a picture of me unconscious on the day of my attack. It was so unnerving to see myself that way. Seeing the look on my face, Armin gestured for me to show him the picture. He seemed surprised at first, and then I recognized a distinct expression of fear, which he tried and failed to conceal.

I decided to instead look at the brick. It seemed perfectly ordinary, except for the dried blood crusted on its surface. Once I realized that it was the very same brick that had been used to clobber me, I dropped it and retracted in fear. What sick bastards thought it would be funny to send those things to me? Just then, the phone beeped. I picked it up gingerly and read the text I had received from a blocked number.

_He's already betrayed you._

What? Who'd already betrayed me? And how? The phone vibrated with another message.

_Don't worry. He's already being punished._

The message also came with a photo attachment. I opened it and waited for it to load. The picture was of a dirty, bruised, and bloody Levi in a darkened room chained to a chair. His head was down and he looked thinner and weaker than ever. For someone like him to be so defeated… It had to be some part of his past. He didn't tell me to try to protect me, but in the end it didn't matter. I almost found it in myself to laugh at the irony of it all. If I had at least known something I could have helped much more readily. Even so, I knew what I'd have to do.

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you thought of this and what should happen next in the reviews. Have a great day!


	11. Betrayal

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Half of this chapter was deleted by accident so I had to re-write it. Anyhow, please enjoy!

* * *

"Got anything on him yet?" I asked nervously, biting my fingernails. After much working I got my hand to the point where I could use it well enough, but once it got tired it began to shake again and I had to stretch and shake it out to get it to working order again, but I did have to thank my sleepless nights trying to move paperclips which got smaller and smaller at each victory. Writing was still not quite on the table, but I could handle that later.

Armin and Mikasa were helping me by digging up information on Levi's past and, because I was not so good at that bit, I had to settle for pacing around his apartment with them and breathing down their necks for answers that they hadn't yet found occasionally.

"Will you take a deep breath, Eren? Sit down and watch a movie or something. We can't work at the speed of light, unfortunately," Armin answered without taking his eyes off the screen or fingers from the keys.

"I can't calm down! He's missing for God's sake!"

"You can go to the police for help if you don't want us to," he mumbled again.

"No! You know I trust you, I'm just so upset that I can't do anything."

"Well, hold that thought. I may have found something," Mikasa interjected quietly, probably still reading whatever she'd found to make sure it was actually relevant.

"What is it?" I asked, though I was pretty much answering my own question by looping around so I was behind her, reading over her shoulder. It was a police article from about ten years ago.

"Police entered a building where there were suspicions of gang activity last night, but found it recently abandoned. Anyone in the area who sees the men from the pictures below (drawn by a sketch artist according to witness sightings) is instructed to immediately contact local police. If you have any information, call the tip line listed below," Mikasa read out. She then scrolled down to the pictures mentioned in the article. There were four drawings there. One was of a girl wearing pigtails with a mischievous look on her face, another was of a fairly generic-looking boy, except that he appeared to be in his teens but he also had pale hair with bangs that went down the middle of his face between his eyes. The next was a picture of a man who looked to be in about his mid-thirties with dark hair that reached to his neck, a bit of stubble, and a bowler hat on. The final picture made my throat catch. It was a younger-looking Levi. He was in his late teens, it seemed. He still had that sour expression on his face, though.

I ground my teeth at the article and stormed off to the kitchen, where I looked around for something to do to get my anger out. I resolved to open and close the cabinets and drawers to make a lot of noise. It didn't really work out the way I wanted it to, though, so I had to stop and resume my pacing.

"Can you find out anything about the building the police raided?" I asked suddenly, mumbling around the finger in my mouth that I was in the process of biting the nail off of.

"Already have it. Do you want to head out there tomorrow?" Armin spoke softly.

"Why not today?"

"It's nine at night. We need to have dinner and go to bed before we do anything."

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I felt more tired than when I had initially fallen asleep and my back and neck were awfully sore from sleeping in an awkward position.

Mikasa was already cooking breakfast and Armin was reading the newspaper. It felt like home with my sister and my best friend taking care of me, but Levi's house felt very unnatural without Levi in it. We were there in case he came back home, though all of us knew it was an empty hope that would be fruitless.

"Good morning, Eren," Armin chirped. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"I've been better," I mumbled, plopping down in one of the seats at the breakfast table.

"Are you sure you're ready to face the possibility of confrontation with dangerous people?" Mikasa asked, not one for subtlety.

"I have to. It's not a choice."

"Fine. We'll head out after breakfast. It's a long drive."

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, Mikasa."

"I have to protect you. I will not lose any more of my family."

"I'm going too!" Armin added, looking over his newspaper at me defiantly.

"Armin…"

"No. I'm going and that's that. Now are we going to eat breakfast? It smells like it's burning."

"Shit," Mikasa grumbled and took the eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes off the stove.

* * *

The building was dark and gray and had water damage all around. Overall, it actually seemed fairly unassuming. Who would be stupid enough to infiltrate an obviously condemned building with boarded up windows and caution tape? Yet, somewhere inside, I knew that it was not so black and white. There was a thin-yet-distinct footpath leading from the road to the doorway, which had no board to cover it.

When I exited the car to approach the looming place, I told Mikasa and Armin to stay outside. It would be useless for all of us to be potentially captured and tortured. I told Mikasa that I would take the flip phone the shady people had so generously given me and smuggle it in my underwear just praying that they wouldn't frisk me and try to contact her from the inside using it. She didn't like the plan, but since Armin had already told me to do it, she knew that it was as good as we'd get, despite the risk.

So I walked along the little footpath with my heart pumping loud in my ears. It wasn't particularly long, but I got more and more tired and hopeless with each step. Even though I trusted Armin, I was still scared. But upon reaching the doorway, I gulped my reservations away and held my head up high.

Inside, the building was inevitably dark, though lanterns kept it reasonably lit. Lit well enough so I could see the middle-aged man sitting in a plush armchair. He was wearing a nice suit with the tie not done up fully and bowler hat was sitting atop his head. It was that guy from the article! He didn't look up from the newspaper he was reading, but he did speak to me.

"I was wondering when you'd show up here," he articulated before folding the paper, standing up, and tossing it onto the chair. He approached me with cold eyes that did not match his smile. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Eren. You are all Levi has been talking about for days."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and didn't respond, hoping he would keep speaking to fill the silence if I just waited.

"Well if you're not going to say anything, I suppose I'll just have to let you see him. You're lucky. Because I know you both must have missed each other so much, you'll have a nice, secluded couples' retreat where you'll be spending a lot of time together. Doesn't that sound nice?"

I still refused to speak to the mysterious man, who just shrugged and called a goon to come and strip search me. I cursed inwardly as the phone was taken from me with a hearty chuckle from the searcher. He then told me that I could get dressed again and I shot him a death glare as the first man lead me to a room in the back with a heavy steel door.

Levi was sitting in a chair in the same saddening position from the pictures I'd received at the hospital with a very new-looking chair beside him that was bolted into the ground the same way, though it was empty. When the black-haired man looked up and saw me, he immediately tried to bolt up and out of his restraints, causing them to make a very loud metal-on-metal noise that was not at all pleasant.

"You said you'd protect him, Kenny!"

"I'm afraid it wasn't me to bring him in. He came in of his own volition."

"Eren, you fucking idiot! Why would you come here?" Levi went on to yell, his anger redirected at me.

"Because…" I began, though I couldn't really think of why. I just wanted to save him, though the more I thought about it, the more stupid it seemed. I lowered my head in shame and could hear a sigh from my lover.

"I was wondering why they put in a second chair. If they knew you were coming, I suppose they had to have coerced you somehow…," he reasoned aloud.

"Enough chit-chat, ladies. You'll have plenty of time for that once Eren is all settled in. We wouldn't want him to feel unwelcome…"

* * *

Once I was all chained-up like Levi was, I sighed deeply. He stank more than any other stinky thing I'd ever smelled.

"God, you smell awful."

"I know. You'll get used to it eventually, and then you'll smell sort of like me. It's just another way they torture you. With the humiliation of being filthy and having to do your business on yourself. Why do you think I always want to be clean?"

"Oh," was all I could muster.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I…was stupid for thinking they'd forgotten about me."

"Don't be sorry. Now I'll be interesting at dinner parties," I joked, trying to keep spirits up. Unfortunately, I choked up on the last few words as tears began to roll down my cheeks.

"Aw. Don't cry, little Eren. It's far too depressing to see you give up," sounded a very familiar voice. I almost couldn't believe my ears.

"Reiner, what are you do-"

A sharp punch to the jaw came before I could finish my sentence.

* * *

A/N: Ah! What? Reiner's a traitor? Oh noes. But anyway, please let me know what you thought in the reviews! Have a great day.


	12. Hate

After I'd received a thorough beating from Reiner, he crossed his arms impatiently. After a long while of collecting myself, I looked up at him, bloodied and pathetic.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"You were…like a brother to me, to all of us. Why would you betray-"

"Shut up! Shut up!" he shouted, seeming to have a guilty conscience. He knew what he'd done.

"Just…know this. Know that I'm not mad. Nobody is. I have only…lost a lot of respect for you today."

"You're the bloody mess."

"But who is the one with blood on his hands, Reiner? Me or you?"

He was silent for a while after that and eventually left. The silence continued even after it was just the two of us again. I don't think Levi knew what to say to me getting beaten to a pulp without either of us being able to do anything about it. I didn't have anything to say. So it was silent for a long time. I quickly lost track of the hours. I didn't know if the day had changed or not.

Levi spoke after I was sure a new day had begun because morning light was coming in through the small cracks in the seal between the window-hole and the wood covering it.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Thank you…for coming to get me. It was stupid, like really fucking dumb, but I appreciate the gesture."

"You're welcome. You'd do the same for me."

"But I'd succeed."

"Shut up, Levi," I chuckled a bit before a chest-rattling cough overtook me.

He looked at me sympathetically and sighed shallowly. Not too long after that, Reiner and Bertolt entered and gave us both short beatings, with Bertolt primarily kicking us in various places and Reiner then raining down on us with hard punches. As much as it sucked to get beaten up, especially by two of my friends, it wasn't as bad as when they left and Annie entered. I was surprised when she did, and she looked equally surprised, but I could tell that she was trying hard not to let it show.

"I'm surprised, Annie. Reiner and Bertl I can accept. But you… Why are you doing this?"

"I want protection. Someone like you wouldn't understand a frail girl like me."

"You're stronger than this."

"No, I'm not. I just wish that the weak, who get swept along in the flow, would be considered human too." She couldn't meet my gaze as she said this, but I thought about it. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't blame her for choosing that path. I still don't. I forgave her as soon as she said it and I didn't hold a grudge on her for any of the swings she took at me. For any of the bruises or any of the blood. When she was done, she took the knife at her hip and looked at it for a while. Then, after what seemed to be an agonizingly long time of that, she stuck it deep in Levi's thigh. He seemed unfazed but for his back straightening suddenly and a sharp intake of air. I admired him for staying strong even in his current circumstance, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He was hurting and would be for a while, especially if it got infected, which was likely in his current state. But when the petite blonde left us, no more of Kenny's thugs came in to put us in our places. It was sort of nice, actually, despite everything. The birds sang, the bees buzzed, the cars purred as they rolled along the road.

That was the calm before the storm. It seemed that only a few hours had gone by before we heard yelling and gunshots. Both of our heads shot up at the first noise, but as it dragged on and on, we returned to the normal slump. There was nothing we could do anyways. Eventually, there came a crash at the door and it swung open with a great force. A dark, fast figure got to work unlocking my restraints with shaking hands. Once the figure was done, I stretched and tried to stand, but couldn't fully support myself, so a smaller figure quickly caught me.

"Armin?" I rasped.

"Yes, now let's go," he replied hurriedly, sounding distant.

I didn't question my blond friend as he helped support me on our way to the car. They had a big towel covered by a bunch of trash bags set up in the back seat, which was smart, considering how dirty we were, though Levi was much more so than I. We waited a minute or so before Mikasa came out, carrying Levi in her arms because his injured leg prevented him from walking at all, even with support. When she put him down next to me, he leaned on me for support right away, leading me to believe that he couldn't actually support himself. I wasn't surprised after what he'd been through. So I put my arm around him, disregarding the caked-on muck. It was so nice to move my aching joints, to relax my back muscles, to be able to finally embrace Levi.

* * *

At the hospital, they cleaned both of us up, which felt like heaven. Levi was told that he'd just have to use crutches for a bit and do a little physical therapy. We were released the following evening with no major injuries, thanks to the ridiculousness of how the world works.

When Mikasa and Armin brought us to Levi's home, we all decided to stay there that night for safety. While my sister was making dinner and Armin was reading, my lover and I sat on the couch to watch a nice, light home improvement show. I wasn't watching it, though, only Levi. When he noticed me staring, he smiled at me a little and I reached out to touch his face. My fingers brushed lightly against his cheek, but he immediately jumped back against the arm of the chair and looked at me in horror.

"Don't…touch me," he whispered. All I could do was watch as he got his crutches and hurried into his bedroom, slamming the door loud behind him. I felt Mikasa and Armin staring and gave them both death glares before going into the bathroom to cry. As much as I wanted to be strong, I was weak. I was too weak to handle my boyfriend rejecting my touch. I was too weak to handle the nightmares and flashbacks. I was too weak. But in my weakness, I found something else inside of me.

* * *

A/N: Oh no! Poor guys. Don't worry, though. It'd be such a bummer if they broke up now! Let me know what you thought of this chapter in the reviews and have a great day!


	13. Knife

A/N: This takes place after Eren moves in with Levi. I didn't think it was all that important to actually write that part in, so sorry if it's a bit confusing. Please enjoy nevertheless.

* * *

"I'll kill every last one of them," I muttered to myself in the shower as I washed my hair.

"I'll kill every last one of them," I muttered to myself as I wrapped the towel around my waist.

"I'll kill every last one of them," I muttered to myself as I drove to class.

"I'll kill every last one of them," I muttered to myself when the lecture was over.

When I got home, Levi was on the couch with the TV on. He'd fallen asleep watching an old romcom. I turned off the TV and stroked his cheek gently. He looked so calm when he was sleeping.

"I'm doing this for you, baby," I whispered as I grabbed a kitchen knife, wrapped the hilt in clear plastic wrap, and then the whole thing in a dishrag. A strange calm washed over me and I moved very slowly and quietly. When I got in the car and drove toward the grey building where Levi and I had been held during our kidnapping, I calmly thought about how I would go about it. Of course Kenny would have to go first because if I gave him an opportunity to escape, he would. Then the goons that would surely come after me would have to be dealt with. My so-called friends would be last, because I wanted to have some time with them to let them know just who they had messed with.

Upon my arrival, I put the car in park and took my sweet time strolling toward the entrance. My eyes didn't take long to adjust to the dim light as it was already late in the evening. When Kenny stood up to greet me with a sick smile I took a step forward, driving the knife upwards into his ribcage. As it was, the wound would hurt, but he could live if seen to immediately. I took that moment to look into his eyes with a calm expression and speak my last words to him.

"You must have gotten rusty, old man. Surely many have tried this before. The only difference between me and them is that I succeeded." I watched him groan pitifully under me before I twisted the blade and he died immediately. Something in me must have snapped, because when the members of Kenny's now-fallen organization came toward me in throngs, I killed each one in a frenzy. Or I must have, because the next thing I remember after killing Kenny is being surrounded by bodies. Then I continued through the halls, looking around the place for my next targets like a hungry animal. I found Annie sleeping on the ground. She looked so innocent. Just as suddenly as my sanity had been broken, it snapped back into place. I couldn't harm her. Instead I just watched her, not sure of what to do. Eventually she stirred and looked right at me. I could tell she knew what I had done, so she just sighed a bit and said nothing. After a while of a staring contest, I stood up and dropped the knife. The clattering sound it made was harsh, but I didn't mind. The swirling whirlwind of my mind was so loud, what was one more sound?

It seemed like hours that I stood there before I abruptly left, heading to the car, starting it up, driving home, parking, walking up, opening the door, closing the door, taking off my shoes. I felt like a robot, going through the motions. When Levi looked up from his book and saw me, his eyes widened more than I had ever seen them do that before. He rushed up to me and took my hands knowingly, staring into my blank eyes. I wasn't even entirely sure what was happening; it all felt like a daze. He hugged me tight and stroked my hair, not minding the blood that was getting all over him. After our long embrace, he led me to the shower and washed me thoroughly. I was still unresponsive, but deep down I felt a stirring of gratefulness for him being there. Levi clothed me in my pajamas and tucked me into bed after my shower and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, much like a child after a long and exciting excursion. Except that my excursion would be a lot harder to hide.

* * *

A/N: Oh no! This is the second-to-last chapter. It all seems so final! *cries* Never fear, there's gonna be a semi-happy ending. I hope. Let me know what you thought of this in the reviews and have a nice day!


	14. Essence

When I woke up, there was a deep ache in my bones and I had a pounding pain in my head. Even so, I heard faint sounds from the kitchen, so I gingerly sat up and sighed. I was surprised Levi hadn't thrown me out, because he had often expressed to me his dislike for needless death. Perhaps he loved me too much, perhaps he thought that the death wasn't needless. Whatever his reasoning was, I was grateful beyond compare that I had him to take care of me and the situation, because I couldn't do it alone and, as much as I loved my friends, they could never, ever know the events that transpired at that cursed place. Levi was the only one who could know.

When I felt adjusted enough to wakefulness to walk, I stood and shuffled slowly to the kitchenette.

"The clothes the got soiled yesterday got incinerated early this morning," Levi told me offhandedly, but I knew his words held more weight than he let on by his nonchalant tone. He was gonna help me get through this whole mess and see it out 'til the end. I hugged him tightly and I felt his arms tighten around me too after an instant of hesitation.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"You're welcome. But I have to make sure these eggs don't burn. Okay?"

"Okay."

He watched the eggs cook and then shoveled the finished product onto a platter with bacon, sausage, pancakes, and toast. He brought the platter over to the table, which was already set with plates, glasses and silverware, as well as syrup, orange juice in a large pitcher, and a few jams.

"What's all this?" I asked dumbly.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought we could have a nice breakfast," he replied, expression calm as ever.

As I ate, I looked over and saw a fancy-looking envelope on the table. It'd already been opened, but I was puzzled over what was inside such an envelope, because we weren't a part of any fancy organizations or clubs. Upon reading it, I inhaled sharply, then looked up at Levi in horror.

"What?" he questioned, monotone.

"The wedding is next month," I answered, of course referring to Christa and Ymir's wedding.

"So?"

"We haven't shopped for it yet because of this whole mess."

"Well shit."

"I know…"

* * *

That day was filled to the brim with hurriedly looking for things off their bridal registry, which always seemed to be sold out. When we finally found something on their list that was in stock, we were dismayed to find out that it was an $1000 coffee and espresso maker. Deciding not to test our luck, we begrudgingly paid out the sum (though Levi paid more of it) and rushed to get measured and fitted for suits to wear to the wedding, because neither of us had anything nice enough. He got a black suit and forest green tie, and I got a gray suit with a gold tie. Satisfied with the purchases, we headed home. Levi went to the kitchen to make us some tea (which, in my time with him, I'd grown to enjoy) while I hung the suits up in the closet and put the coffee maker in our bedroom to be wrapped later.

When I sat down at the table, Levi poured my tea and then his own, but didn't sit down. I could tell her was mulling something over by the way he wouldn't meet my gaze.

"What is it?"

"Wanna come to school with me on Monday?"

"Sure, but wouldn't I get in the way?"

"No. I think I'll have them practice some speaking by asking questions about you or us. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure! I'd love to meet the kids!"

"Great. I'm sure they'll love you."

* * *

On Monday morning, I woke up at four AM because I couldn't sleep for my nervousness, so I took a shower and killed time on Tumblr until Levi woke up around six. I heard him turn on the shower, so I went to whip up some bagels for breakfast and tea to drink with the bagels. By the time he groggily emerged, the table was set and I was smiling brightly at him.

"What the hell, Eren?" he mumbled, sitting down at the table.

"I woke up early, so I made breakfast."

"Thanks," he mumbled drowsily. I just giggled and went on with eating my breakfast.

After breakfast, we both brushed our teeth and went into the closet to pull some clothes to wear. Levi quickly selected a white button-up, dark gray pants, and a light blue speckled tie, but I was still struggling to find a good outfit. My boyfriend seemed puzzled by my indecisiveness.

"You're acting like this is the first day of your freshman year."

"Well that's what it feels like. I want them to like me."

"Can I tell you a secret to getting them to like you?"

"Yes! Please!"

"Be yourself. Relax, act confident, and have fun. Teenagers can smell fear, so just remember that there's nothing _to_ fear," he whispered, a slight reassuring smile on his lips. I nodded and picked a pale pink button-up shirt and some dark jeans, which I figured would be nice enough but not too nice. Once we were both dressed, Levi made us both tea in thermoses to bring to school and took his bag of materials and we left together, my nervousness gone due to his confident aura.

Once inside the building, I felt the stares of countless high schoolers boring into my back menacingly and shrunk down closer to Levi, who just shook his head and chuckled, walking a little faster toward his office on the second floor of the four-floor building, which looked rather impressive in size and quality. When we got to the room, he set down his bag on his desk and got me an office chair to sit on before sitting on his own.

"I don't think I can do this, babe," I murmured nervously.

"Yes you can. I believe in you," he responded, pulling me in close next to him while he reviewed his notes for his classes that day. Suddenly, a tall, blond man bursts through the door with another tall, brunet man. They were talking about whatever dull topic teachers talked about, but as soon as they saw us together, they stopped dead.

"Excuse me, but are you Eren Yeager?" the brunet asked.

"Yes," I replied, voice quivering, as I turned to face him with fearful eyes.

"Oh. Good then. If you weren't I would have had to give Levi some hell," he joked heartily, and the blond chuckled along. Levi just scowled, though I could tell by the fact that he held his tongue that he was rather fond of these two men.

"I'm Erd Jinn and this is Gunther Schultz. We both teach German here," the blond stated politely.

"You two might want to get going though. First period starts in five minutes," Gunther added, speaking more to Levi than to me. My black-haired partner nodded and stood up, gathering his things and beginning to lead me toward the nearby classroom. I felt my stomach drop with nervousness as a few students stared at us making our way down the mostly deserted hallway.

"Levi, they're staring," I whispered, eyes wide.

"No, hun. They're looking. It's just that right now their faces always look judgmental and unhappy. Think of them as younger versions of me. Don't I have the same sort of expression?" After Levi's words, I began to see what he was talking about. Smiling brightly, I kissed him on the side of the head. He grunted in response, but I could tell that he was blushing because he lowered his head slightly after that.

When we got to Levi's classroom, he pulled two stools to the front of the classroom and wrote something in French on the whiteboard, which I figured had something to do with the activity that day.

Soon, students began piling into class, muttering 'bonjour' and 'salut' upon their entry. They all looked tired and vaguely angry, which made me giggle. Suddenly, I felt all their eyes on me and I quieted down, but Levi's hand on my shoulder gave me strength to face them confidently. Once the bell rang to signal the beginning of class, my boyfriend say down next to me on his stool and gave them a bunch of instructions all in French about how class was going to work that day, or so I guessed. After he'd finished speaking, the first shy hand rose in the air. Levi called on her and she asked her question, which Levi translated readily for me.

"How long have you two been a couple?" he spoke for her. I sat and pondered for a bit on how long we'd been together, and I finally came to an answer.

"About two years maybe? I've had a little memory loss recently, so time is still difficult for me to fathom, but it's about that." The class nodded understandingly and the next student raised his hand with a question.

"How did you two meet?" When Levi translated that question for me, I laughed for a long time, and the class looked at me, unsure of how to react. Composing myself, I looked for an appropriate answer for a bunch of high schoolers to hear.

"Well, I spilled my coffee on him and so he made me wash his shirt, and then we just started…um…hanging out and things just went from there." The class apparently saw through my sugarcoated retelling and laughed a little, though Levi's steely glare silenced them quickly. The class stayed quiet after that and no one raised a hand.

"Nous practiquons poser des questions!" he reminded them forcefully. Still no one said anything and all he received were blank stares. I decided to interject gently.

"You can ask us about anything. It doesn't have to be small talk, guys. Feel free to ask whatever you want to know!" I encouraged them, smiling softly. I felt Levi's gaze on me too and I turned to see his eyes had softened too, almost looking thankful. A few seconds later, students slowly but steadily raised their hands with questions, some of them seeming especially eager. I giggled at their sudden interest in us, but part of me was really proud and excited that I seemed so interesting to them.

"What are your favorite things to do together?"

"Well…," I began with a low chuckle, "aside from the obvious, we like to watch movies and spend time with friends. Karaoke night is always a fun time."

"What was the biggest thing you two overcame in your relationship?"

"Probably the biggest conflict we resolved was over saying 'I love you'."

"Are you two gonna get married?"

"Well, I would, but Levi isn't so sure he believes in marriage."

"How old are you?"

"I'm feeling twenty-two!" I sang out, which earned a laugh from the class.

"What's your job?"

"Well right now I'm a college student so I work part-time, but I'm going to graduate soon and hopefully then I'll be able to properly start my career."

"Who's the man in the relationship?"

"We're both the man. That's what makes us gay."

"When did you become gay?"

"I don't know, when did you become straight?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red."

"How are you?"

"Good, thanks."

"Giving or receiving?"

"Since you're not going to be having sex with us, I don't see why that matters to you."

"What's your favorite thing about Mr. Ackerman?"

"Hm… Good question. I guess I'd have to say that my favorite thing about him would be how caring and selfless he can be."

"Can you guys kiss?"

"Yeah."

"Will you guys kiss?"

"Sure," I responded, grinning, as I grasped Levi's hand and kissed the back of it gently and then smiled at the class brightly. I stood and took a bow, and then Levi dismissed class. After the last of them filed out of the room, I grabbed Levi tightly by the arms and shook him slightly as I spoke, enthused.

"I want to teach!"

* * *

A country club in a neighboring town was the venue. The expansive green lawn was the location of the ceremony, and the reception took place inside a large ballroom space that seemed infinite.

The ceremony was a beautiful affair, and in the absence of the brides' biological families, we (their real family) all sat in the front row to witness their vows being exchanged. All of us cried, including the brides, and the woman among us had to excuse themselves to the bathroom after the ceremony to fix their makeup which ran from the tears. Levi and I, however, went right to the reception space after congratulating Ymir and Christa. This also gave us an opportunity to notice how well both of them were dressed. Ymir wore a black tuxedo with a black tie and Christa wore a simple white dress in keeping with her simple self. Both Levi and I noticed the fantastic tailoring and commented on how good they looked, and we received bright smiles in response.

At the reception, all of our friends were the life of the party, especially Connie. He was in the middle of the dance floor living it up and making sure everyone around him was pumped up and felt included.

Sasha was, of course, at the hors d'oeuvres table stuffing her face, and Jean chatted with her idling while sneaking some food into his own mouth. When that song ended, the DJ announced that the Missus' were going to both do a bouquet toss, and that people who wanted to try to catch the bouquet should separate into two groups around each of the brides. Levi and I jokingly decided to participate in the throwing, so he went to Christa's side and I went to Ymir's side of the room and they both threw at the same time. When the bouquet came toward me, I jumped up and, to my surprise, caught it. Grinning widely, I held it up for all to behold, and got a round of applause. I looked to the other side of the room to see who'd 'won' on that side and nearly fainted when I saw who it was, and that person looked just as shocked.

Levi approached me and we regarded each other's bouquets with mouths agape. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ymir and Christa eye each other knowingly before signaling to the DJ to start up the music again. Everyone went back to their dancing and eating and merriment, but the room was empty to me except for Levi and myself. I lost myself in his eyes, and then I lost myself anew in his kiss, and the music was silenced, the people were gone, we were transported to a new place, a new country with a population of two. When we finally separated from each other, we shared an intimate smile with our foreheads pressed together, our eyes full of only pure joy. We placed the bouquets at our seats at the table we'd sit at when dinnertime came, and the proceeded to party harder than ever before. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but I can remember that it was a good night.

* * *

The following morning, the 'family' of the brides all sat together for a light brunch to celebrate and talk together merrily before the two newlyweds went off to their honeymoon in the Alps. When asked why they chose that location, they simply looked at each other and giggled like schoolgirls, and we all knew what their vacation plans were.

The intimate room had white walls with gold leaf filigree designs and the table was white and decorated with pastel colors, appropriately representing purity for a post-wedding brunch. We drank juice, and ate light, small foods, and talked for hours on hours. It seemed all too soon that they brides announced that they had to be off in order to catch the plane. Levi told them to wait just a moment, though, that he wanted everyone to be around for his next endeavor. Everyone agreed and nodded along, though I was thoroughly confused about what he was talking about. Was he secretly a master of parlor tricks? Was he an acrobat? Was he going to do a little dance to wish the brides well? As I stood pondering these questions, I hardly noticed Levi's height decreasing steadily. When my thoughts returned to the present, I nearly cried when I saw him there, down on a singular knee, looking up at me and holding my hand in his and running his thumb along the back of it tenderly.

"Eren… I love you from the bottom of my heart. I love you with all of my being. I love you from the four corners of the Earth. I love you every second of the day. I love you. When I told you I didn't want to get married, I was scared of the commitment. But now… Now I know that you're the only person I'd ever want to commit to. I love you now and I'll keep loving you forever, even when we're old and have forgotten everything, I'll remember you and I'll remember to love you. Will you marry me?"

* * *

"Do you, Eren Michael Yeager, take Levi Ackerman to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"And do you, Levi Ackerman, take Eren Michael Yeager to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

* * *

"Hello, everyone! My name is Mr. Yeager and I'm so excited for you all to learn about astronomy this year!"

* * *

"They can't make me testify. I have spousal privilege."

* * *

"Let's make an offer on that house!"

* * *

"How about an accent wall here?"

* * *

"No! The crib should go against this wall!"

* * *

"Leslie is a perfect name for her."

* * *

"It's your turn to feed her."

* * *

"Let's have another kid."

* * *

"Marcus suits him, I think."

* * *

"We're gonna need a bigger house."

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yes."

"Well let me take a picture!"

"Why do we need a fu- fudging picture?"

"It's her first day of school, Levi! Now shush!"

* * *

"Pose for a picture, Marcus!"

* * *

"They picked on you? Why?"

"THEY DIDN'T JUST PICK ON ME, DADDY! THEY GAVE ME THIS BLACK EYE!"

"Okay. But why?"

"BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Because I'm a teacher? Well that's no reason to-"

"NO! BECAUSE YOU AND PAPA ARE FAGGOTS!"

"Leslie…never say that word again."

* * *

"I enrolled you both in karate classes…"

* * *

"Well, when a girl grows up, she, um…she bleeds…down there…"

"How often?"

"Every month."

"THAT'S NO FAIR, PAPA! MAKE IT STOP!"

"I can't, honey. That's just the way things are."

"But why?"

"I don't know. Do you want to talk to Aunties Ymir and Christa about it? They know more about this than I do."

"They'll think I'm dumb."

"No they won't. They both went through exactly what you're going through. I'll call them and you can head over once you finish your homework."

"Okay…"

* * *

"Marcus, you can't beat up other kids."

"But they called you and Papa fags."

"When you hear them call us names, just ignore them and hold your head up high."

"It's hard!"

"I know. Trust me, I know. Just try your best."

* * *

"Our little girl's first day of high school!"

"They grow up so fast."

"Guys, stop. You're embarrassing me."

"Since when has that ever stopped us?"

* * *

"Dad, Papa… I'm gay."

* * *

"Why did he have to turn out that way?"

"You know it's no one's fault."

"Yeah, but I just… I don't want him to suffer like we had to."

"He already has."

* * *

"We're so proud of you, Leslie! You look so smart with that high school diploma!"

"I wouldn't have been able to do this without my dads teaching me about life and love."

* * *

"MARCUS YOU HAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE!"

"Why?"

"Because a high school diploma isn't enough in this economy!"

"I don't want you guys to have to pay for me."

"Don't be silly. We'd do anything for you and your sister."

"Besides, you can get a football scholarship."

* * *

"Look at our little biologist!"

"It feels like just yesterday we were holding our little baby girl."

"Well Jake and I are planning to move out to Europe now that I'm done with college."

"You have to come to visit us often, then! And don't have too much fun with that boyfriend of yours. I don't want any broken hearts."

* * *

"I'm dropping out of college."

"Son, I'm at least glad you tried."

* * *

"I'm getting married!"

"That's great, Leslie!"

"Jake wants Mark to be his best man."

"That's nice of him."

"Yeah. I just wanted my daddies to be the first to know."

"Thank you and congrats."

* * *

"I'm retiring."

"Okay. I think since its' just the two of us, my income can support us well enough."

* * *

"Do we have enough money for me to retire too?"

"Maybe."

* * *

"You're grandparents!"

"Mark, you and Tom are going to be great dads!"

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Thanks, Dad."

* * *

"I'm pregnant."

"That's great, Leslie!"

"No, it's not. I don't want it. I'm getting an abortion."

"…"

* * *

"Mr. Ackerman, we found a small tumor in your right lung. We should be able to operate. You should fully recover."

* * *

"Today, we mourn the great loss of Levi Ackerman, who died at the age of 89 of lung cancer. He lived a full, happy life. We know that he will continue to watch over his children and grandchildren. His husband of 56 years wishes to share a few words."

* * *

"Levi, it's been five years, but there hasn't been a day that goes by in which I don't think of you. I miss you. I love you. Why did you have to leave?"

* * *

"Today, we mourn the great loss of Eren Yeager, who died at the age of 93 of a heart attack. He lived a long life. We gather here to honor his spirit, and we celebrate that now, after twenty years apart, he will finally be reunited with his beloved husband. They will undoubtedly watch over their children and grandchildren from Heaven."

* * *

_I didn't know that Daddy had written a short autobiography, but I decided to end it with the last thing that happened in regards to him – his death. Now, whenever I feel sad or miss him terribly, I can always look back and remind myself of his life. I will pass on this book to my children and they will pass it onto their children so that they can all know what a wonderful life my father lived, and remind themselves of his legacy._

_Signed, Leslie Rose Greene (b. Leslie Rose Yeager-Ackerman)_

* * *

A/N: I had such a hard time writing this. It was one of the saddest things I've ever written. But it was also really, really cool to write and I'm pretty proud of it. Thank you so much for reading!

A/N 2.0: To aid understanding, 'Daddy'/'Dad' is Eren and 'Papa' is Levi.

A/N 3.0: This is where I pimp out my other fics. Right now I have two fics that are in-progress. They're Symbiosis (Yumikuri) and Through a New Lens (Jeaneren). If you liked this/my writing style, you might want to check those two out. Please do leave reviews for this story if you want to even though it's finished, because they still help me figure out what works and what doesn't. Thank you so much again for reading/reviewing! This story was important for me to write because it helps me figure out a lot about myself, and I hope that it's helped you too, at least a little bit!


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